Simply put, cloud computing is a set of pooled computing resources delivered over the internet. The cloud delivers a hosting environment that doesn't limit an application to a specific set of resources. Depending on the platform, an application can scale dynamically and increase its share of resources on-the-fly.
With the advent of Cloud Computing, there is no more reason for you computing for individual users can be hosted in a professional data center instead of on a desk.
The best way to understand cloud computing to think of the world as a large virtual data source. Anyone who pays a fee can access its services anywhere in the world. It allows for fast retrieval of data.
Cloud computing is a new technology that delivers many types of resources over the Internet. Therefore Cloud computing could be identified as a technology that uses the Internet as the communication medium to deliver its services.
If you want to use the Cloud system to store some extra information on the internet, you can make an Amazon account and they give you 5 gigabytes of space.
Grid computing by definition is the collection of computer resources from multiple locations to reach a common goal. The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involves a large number of files. Cloud computing is a general terminology used for the delivery of hosted services over the internet.
I found three Cloud Computing magazines you might be interested in. They are; Alltop - Top Cloud Computing News, Cloud Computing Journal and TMC's Cloud Computing Magazine. I hope that you find these choices helpful.
Cloud computing is the sharing of information and software between businesses. At intel.com/cloud computing you will be able to find how to get free cloud computing. Also Bluepointdata.com and synaptic.com are places to start your search for free cloud computing.
Virtual machines are used in this hosting process and mostly used in cloud computing services. Hosted EMR can make you familiar with this.
Any computer website that has cloud computing on it should be able to keep you updated with news about cloud computing technology. I recommend Microsoft.
There is a good explanation of cloud computing at http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031. I think you can learn most of what you need to know there.
Cloud computing is better then normal grid computing as its cheaper to buy, use and maintain. Cloud computing can offer web hosting also which grid computing can not.
There is no normal cloud computing platform. Cloud computing is a new computer operating system that is becoming popular.